I've recently made a new connection for dusty hunting, a gentleman who works in estate sales. When I asked him about any old bottles of whiskey, he mentioned that he actually had an old bottle of scotch that he had picked at an estate sale himself. He just bought it for the decanter, but he'd never opened it. We swapped info, and he later sent me the following images:

My concern is that the whisky has been sitting in that decanter for at least 50 years, and after a lot of research, it looks like it's probably pretty high in lead content IF that decanter is actually crystal. If it's not crystal, then I'm excited to have an opportunity to pick up and taste an interesting old bottle at a VERY reasonable price. However, if it is crystal, I'm wondering if I should simply pass on it.

Thoughts?

06-13-2013, 16:47

sutton

Re: Safe to drink? Ballantine's 30 year in 1950s (?) decanter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtgraves

I've recently made a new connection for dusty hunting, a gentleman who works in estate sales. When I asked him about any old bottles of whiskey, he mentioned that he actually had an old bottle of scotch that he had picked at an estate sale himself. He just bought it for the decanter, but he'd never opened it. We swapped info, and he later sent me the following images:

My concern is that the whisky has been sitting in that decanter for at least 50 years, and after a lot of research, it looks like it's probably pretty high in lead content IF that decanter is actually crystal. If it's not crystal, then I'm excited to have an opportunity to pick up and taste an interesting old bottle at a VERY reasonable price. However, if it is crystal, I'm wondering if I should simply pass on it.

Thoughts?

I'm no expert JT, but given the age, if that is from the 50's, it probably is almost certainly leaded crystal. The only way to tell is to have the whiskey tested.

Why don't you offer him to buy pending a successful test? You can keep the contents and he gets the empty decanter he wanted ...